Photograph courtesy of Shervin Lainez

Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra have announced that they'll be playing Prince's 1984 big-hitter Purple Rain at a New Year's Eve gig at Terminal 5 in New York.

They'll also be playing cuts from this year's Theatre Is Evil album, with support coming from Grand Theft Orchestra member Jherek Bischoff, The Simple Pleasure and a secret guest.

Says Palmer about why they've chosen Purple Rain: “The members of the Grand Theft Orchestra (me, Chad, Michael and Jherek) all come from very different musical backgrounds and have wildly different tastes, but there is ONE THING on our venn diagram that overlaps in the 'perfect album' department, and that's PURPLE RAIN. We all grew up worshipping this record. Everybody already knows the songs cold (Jherek used to actually be IN A PRINCE COVER BAND) and we're all going to take turns singing and swapping instruments. The band will, of course, be dressed in our finest Prince-esque finery, covering all aspects of Prince, his facial hair, and his various eras of nudity. We're also encouraging the entire audience to 'come as your favourite era of prince'. I want to run around counting people in ASSLESS CHAPS, and maybe give them door prizes for bravery. New Years Eve is cold.”

Get tickets for the gig here; in the meantime, have a watch of another of the band's tributes, performing 'The Time Warp' with The Rocky Horror Picture Show's creator Richard O'Brien at their recent Koko gig: